Test Run
by Juxtaposie
Summary: Jaina's a practical girl. She's also a little insecure. Practice makes perfect. YJK, mentions of slash.
1. Part 1

**Test Run**

_Jaina's a practical girl. _She's also a little insecure. Practice makes perfect.

* * *

"I'm just never quite sure where I'm standing, you know?" Jaina continued, sifting aimlessly through the pile of junk parts spread out on the floor around her folded legs. "Sometimes we'll be together and I think 'this is it, he's gonna do it' and he doesn't, or then I decide I'm not going to wait for him to make a move – I'm a perfectly capable young woman, why shouldn't I be able to just – just kiss him and get it over with – get it out there!" Her eyes, previously unfocused, suddenly found the old-fashioned (and very broken) transponder still clutched in her other hand, and she started as though she was surprised to see it, continuing, "But then… I freeze. Or he freezes. Or something happens, and – and I _know_ he likes me! I can feel it… when he looks at me. And I think I like him too, but-"

"I think perhaps you are thinking too much," Tenel Ka interrupted gently. Her expression, to those who knew her well, was one of mild amusement.

"Am I?" Jaina asked, looking up from her place across the room. Tenel Ka's response was to raise an eyebrow. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'm thinking too much." A tiny smile broke through her puzzled frown. "I don't really have that problem a lot. I guess I'm just not sure how to deal with it. The thinking, I mean. I mean, I'm not sure how to deal with Zekk or this non-existent kiss either, but you're right. I'm thinking too much." Then after a brief pause, she continued, "But what if I'm not thinking enough?"

Tenel Ka's answering exhale – a miniscule, almost inaudible thing – was the equivalent of outright laughter.

"Hey!" Jaina exclaimed, shooting her friend a defensive look. "This is a serious dilemma!"

"It is only one kiss," Tenel Ka replied gently. "Not so serious."

"How do you know that?" Jaina demanded. "Is it personal experience, or is this just more of your boundless crossbred Hapan/Dathomirian self-assuredness?"

Without the slightest bit of smugness, Tenel Ka answered, "The latter.

"So you haven't kissed Jacen yet?" Jaina pressed, dropping the transponder and leaning forward, both elbows resting on her knees, hands clasped.

Tenel Ka seemed taken-aback by the frankness of such a personal question, but after a few moments she shook her head. "I have not."

"But you want to, right?"

"Very much so, yes."

"And aren't you worried that you're a bad kisser or something?"

Again Tenel Ka paused, and when she finally answered, slowly, choosing her words carefully, there was a tiny, barely-there smile on her face. "Jaina. Friend. I highly doubt Zekk is going to care one way or the other. He likes you. He will like kissing you. Your worry is unfounded."

"You're right," Jaina agreed with a sigh, running a hand nervously through her loose hair. "And even if you weren't, it's not like I could practice."

Shifting in her place on Jaina's bedroll, Tenel Ka said, "That is not necessarily true."

Jaina laughed. "Who am I going to practice with?"

She choked when Tenel Ka replied, "Me."

A brief, silent moment passed between the two girls. Their eyes met, deep golden brown and steely, unwavering gray, and Jaina could feel the silence forcing the air out of her lungs, raising the blood in her cheeks. Her face felt impossibly hot.

And then the absurdity of the situation came crashing down on her, and she realized that the only appropriate reaction was laughter. She acted accordingly.

"Oh," she sighed when she'd caught her breath, rubbing her suddenly damp eyes with the cleaner of her two hands. "Hilarious. Way better than any of Jacen's jokes."

"I'm glad you are amused," Tenel Ka said, "but I was being sincere."

Jaina choked again. "What? No, I can't- I mean - What?"

"It was only a suggestion. You seemed so concerned, I thought perhaps…" Tenel Ka shrugged, but she seemed unembarrassed.

"Thanks," Jaina mumbled. "I think."

"It is not so uncommon, you know," Tenel Ka continued, her tone conversational. "On my mother's home planet – even on my father's – many women -"

"Says the girl born of not just one, but _two_ societies of warrior-women," Jaina interrupted. "I don't think that counts."

"It is still a valid point," Tenel Ka maintained, "if you need justification."

Jaina snorted. "There's nothing to justify."

"Assurance, then. It would change nothing between us, between myself and Jacen, or between you and Zekk. It was not my intent to make you uncomfortable."

Biting her lip, half in thought and half in lingering embarrassment, Jaina sighed again. "I know. You were just trying to help. Practice _would_ help. I'm just… not so sure this is the right kind of practice."

Tenel Ka nodded once in acquiescence. "Then let us forget I mentioned it."

"No!" Jaina blurted, blushing again at her own sudden eagerness. "No, it's… it's not a bad idea. I'm just nervous, I guess."

A hint of a smile ghosted across Tenel Ka's face when she said gently, "So am I."

Taking a deep breath, Jaina unfolded her legs and stood, wiping her left hand – the one sporting the most grease spots – on the leg of her jumpsuit. Her hands found each other then, and spent a few moments fiddling together, her fingertips touching once, twice, peeling back a loose cuticle, wiping away stray flecks of the grime that built up in machinery when the oil wasn't changed frequently enough. A few scant yards away, on the edge of the bedroll, Tenel Ka's chin tilted upwards, and the light caught the beads in her hair. One braid swung backwards over her shoulder when she sat up straighter. On the exhale, Jaina took a step.

She sat down at the head of the bed, pushing her pillow out of the way as she folded her legs beneath herself and squared her shoulders to mirror her friend's position. Tenel Ka shifted once more and then they were face to face. Jaina swallowed the lump that was rising in her throat. Her face felt hot again.

"Okay," she said finally, giving the nondescript brown bedspread one last, long look before forcing herself to meet Tenel Ka's eyes. "Okay. Just like pulling off a bacta patch."

"Deep breath." Tenel Ka's voice was quiet, amused, the corners of her mouth pulling ever-so-slightly upward as she leaned in.

Jaina nodded. "Just do it."

Tenel Ka's eyes were closed, and Jaina leaned in so that she could feel the heat rising off her friend's cheeks, the breath coming from between her slightly parted lips. She let her own eyes flutter closed, and her last thought before they met – lips brushing , touching tentatively, breath mingling as the kiss deepened, a gentle, calloused hand ghosting across her cheek – was a thought she hadn't had in over a year, since they had first been introduced.

Tenel Ka was very, very beautiful.

* * *

**AN:** This idea hit me one day, and then it wouldn't leave me alone and it just snow-balled until it got completely out of control. So thoughts? Comments? Criticism? Random observations about how crazy I am?


	2. Part 2

**Test Run, Part 2**

_Jaina's a practical girl. She's also a little insecure. Practice makes perfect. _

* * *

Two days later, Jaina was slightly surprised to find that Tenel Ka, as usual, had been right. Despite the half an hour they'd spent in her room, trading kisses, trying different speeds and techniques, it seemed that nothing had changed between the two friends. Nor did it appear that things had changed between Jacen and Tenel Ka. If anything, Tenel Ka's usually cool demeanor seemed to have thawed a bit; she'd offered Jacen a handful of those almost-smiles that morning alone, and by lunch her brother had practically been preening. That was, unfortunately, the problem.

Though things had not changed between Jaina and Tenel Ka, or Tenel Ka and Jacen, it seemed that there was a low and very shoddily constructed wall going up between brother and sister, and Jaina was the one building it. Every time she met her twin's eye a spike of anxiety set her heart racing, as if Jacen could tell, just by looking at her, that she had kissed the girl he was very quickly falling in love with before he had even held her hand. She wondered why she hadn't thought of those consequences before she'd kissed Tenel Ka. Or before Tenel Ka had kissed her. Or whatever had happened.

"Are you _sure_ you're all right?" Jacen asked for the third time in as many minutes, glancing up from his plate. Tenel Ka, sitting closer beside him than she usually did, glanced up as well, a hint of concern passing across her face.

Trying to calm her racing heart, knowing her brother would sense her inner-turmoil, Jaina mumbled, "M'fine," and sank lower in her spot on the bench.

Beside her, Lowie growled something around a mouthful of raw meat.

"I believe Master Lowbacca is trying to say that you don't appear to be "fine,"" Emtee Dee piped up from his end of the table, "but I am not entirely sure because of the large amounts of unchewed food in his mouth. You really ought not to talk with your mouth full, sir."

"Really," Jaina intoned, bowing her head over her food in a vain attempt to hide her blush. "I'm fine. Just tired. I think I might go lay down for a bit."

Jacen was not fooled. "You're all flushed," he went on, leaning down so he could look her in the eye. "Maybe you should go down to the medbay. You don't feel right. Want me to walk you there?"

Jaina pushed her plate away with a sigh. "I'm _fine_, Jacen. Just… thinking about some things."

"You're about to explode!" Jacen exclaimed lightly, giving a little laugh. "What could you possibly be thinking about?"

"Just things. Someone."

Jacen sat back with a sigh. "Forget I asked. Zekk will always be one of my best friends, but what the two of you do and think together is, frankly, more than I care to know." After a pause, he added, "Unless you need rescuing from some terrible domestic dispute gone wrong, or he makes you cry. Then I'll be all ears."

The color in Jaina's cheeks deepened, but this time it was from ire and not embarrassment. "I'm _not_ thinking about Zekk, thank you very much."

Jacen raised an eyebrow in silent disbelief.

"I think," Tenel Ka began slowly, "that I know of whom Jaina's thinking." There was something almost teasing in the way the corners of her mouth quirked up, but Jaina knew better than to believe that. At least, she thought she did.

Eyeing each of the girls in turn, Lowie rumbled a long question, which Emtee Dee translated as, "Master Lowbacca wishes to inquire if this is one of those feminine secrets that he and Master Jacen would be better off not knowing."

To the amazement of all present, Tenel Ka laughed. Jaina blurted, "Yes! Yes it is!"

"Oh no." Jacen shook his head. "I'm not getting left out of the loop on what is clearly going to end up being the biggest teasing target this week. One of you spill."

"No!" Jaina yelled. Several other students turned to see the source of the commotion. "No, I mean – it's not a big deal. It's just not."

Jacen laughed again. "You're a bad liar, sis. So is this a new crush? A tall, dark stranger who suddenly appeared and swept you off your feet? Have the two of you been spending the afternoons holed up in your room, necking like there's no tomorrow?"

Jaina dropped her forehead on the table with a loud thunk, and Tenel Ka snorted in amusement.

Before Jacen could utter another word, Tenel Ka cupped a hand around Jacen's ear and leaned in to whisper a lengthy explanation. Jacen's smile began to slide, and when Tenel Ka finally leaned back he couldn't decide whether to laugh or not.

"Um," he began slowly, looking at the top of his sister's head and then at Tenel Ka's earnest gray eyes. "Tenel Ka, usually when we tell jokes, we try to stay away from things we know are going to creep the living force out of people."

Pursing her lips, Tenel Ka looked from one twin to the other. "One of you must tell me why you think I would joke about something like this. I do not understand."

Jacen dropped his fork and pushed his plate away. "I'm going to get a plate of spicecake," he announced. "And when I come back we're going to pretend this conversation never happened." Ignoring Lowie's demands for an explanation, Jacen stood and made his way, very stiffly, back to the serving line.

When he glanced back over his shoulder, once, and briefly, he saw Tenel Ka and Lowie with their heads bent together, and his sister attempting to disappear under the table.

The young wookie's laughter echoed through the entire cafeteria.

* * *

**AN:** Yep, I'm crazy


End file.
